The impact of parenthood on environmental attitudes and behaviour: a longitudinal investigation of the legacy hypothesis

Thomas, Gregory O. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5566-4416, Fisher, Rose, Whitmarsh, Lorraine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9054-1040, Milfont, Taciano L. and Poortinga, Wouter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6926-8545 2018. The impact of parenthood on environmental attitudes and behaviour: a longitudinal investigation of the legacy hypothesis. Population and Environment 39 (3) , pp. 261-276. 10.1007/s11111-017-0291-1

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (504kB) | Preview

Abstract

Willingness to engage in sustainable actions may be limited by the psychological distance of climate change. In this study, we test the legacy hypothesis, which holds that having children leads parents to consider the legacy left to offspring in respect of environmental quality. Using the Understanding Society dataset, a longitudinal survey representative of the UK population (n = 18,176), we assess how having children may change people’s individual environmental attitudes and behaviour. Results indicate that having a new child is associated with a small decrease in the frequency of a few environmental behaviours. Only parents with already high environmental concern show a small increase in the desire to act more sustainably after the birth of their first child. Overall, the results do not provide evidence in support of the legacy hypothesis in terms of individual-level environmental attitudes and behaviours. We argue that the transition to parenthood is a time where concern is prioritised on the immediate wellbeing of the child and not on the future environmental threats.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology Architecture
Publisher:	Springer Verlag (Germany)
ISSN:	0199-0039
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	10 January 2018
Date of Acceptance:	5 December 2017
Last Modified:	06 Nov 2024 22:48
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/108017

Citation Data

Cited 37 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item